history

Although most cities had electricity by the mid-1930s, rural Americans were still in the dark. The high cost of building electric distribution lines to serve sparsely populated rural areas was thought to be uneconomical.

Then in 1940, with the support of the federal Rural Electrification Administration's oversight and low-interest loans, the people of northwest Florida decided to band together to form a member-owned, not-for-profit utility that would benefit its members. The result was Choctawhatchee Electric Cooperative (CHELCO).

Later that same year, CHELCO members met with 10 other electric cooperatives and formed Alabama Electric Cooperative (now PowerSouth Energy Cooperative), a generation and transmission cooperative established to generate the electricity needed by its member co-ops.

Today, CHELCO is headquartered in DeFuniak Springs, and our service territory encompasses mainly Walton and Okaloosa counties, in addition to portions of western Holmes and eastern Santa Rosa counties. We have six area offices to serve your needs.

Touchstone Energy® Cooperatives is a national network of electric cooperatives across 46 states that provides resources and leverages partnerships to help member cooperatives and their employees better engage and serve their members. By working together, Touchstone Energy cooperatives stand as a source of power and information to their 32 million member-owners every day.